While champions change at the National Bank Open, 1 volunteer served tennis excellence for 25 years

At the National Bank Open, over the last 25 years, there have been dozens of different champions from Monica Seles and Patrick Rafter to Jannik Sinner and Jessica Pegula, but there has only been one Dave Kumar.

He’s the 75-year-old Burlington, Ont. man who has been a volunteer every year since 1998. One third of his life. This past weekend he was one of 1,300 volunteers who gave their time to make the event possible.

And, when it came time for awards, Kumar got one too. He was recognized for his service to Tennis Canada and the National Bank Open and given a plaque and a pin. They sit proudly on his computer desk. 

“It feels great,” he told CBC Hamilton. “I’m really happy that I’ve contributed a lot over the last 25 years.”

Patrick Rafter and Seles, one of the great women’s champions of all time, were winners in 1998 when Kumar started volunteering. He said his own interest in tennis was what made him sign up. 

“My interest at the time was to see the players, how they play the matches, and also how the volunteers can help to make it a successful event,” he said in an interview with the CBC’s Metro Morning.

Wants to keep volunteering, ‘as long as I’m healthy’

Kumar started playing tennis shortly after arriving in Burlington, Ont. in the early 70s. Now, he says seeing new faces popping in every year has kept him coming back.

“Over the last 25 years, I don’t know how many players I’ve seen,” he said. “I started with Sebastian Lareau from Quebec, to Milos [Raonic] and now Felix [Auger Aliassime]. It is an entirely different way of playing for each player.”

At his best, Kumar said he was a competent tennis player whose serve once reached 96 miles per hour.

“That sort of inspired me that ‘okay, I want to do more, I want to be a competitive player,'” he said.

“So then I joined the club in Burlington. I used to play league.”

Even though the last time he played was before the COVID-19 pandemic due to a shoulder injury, his interest in tennis has not dwindled.

At 75 years old, Kumar plans to continue volunteering. “My goal is, as long as I’m healthy, I want to do it,” he said.

He said although he’s not a professional player, he has learned a lot from the tournaments.

2023 National Bank Open winners 

The women’s tournament ended with Jessica Pegula beating a tired Liudmila Samsonova.

“She’s had a crazy schedule,” said Pegula of Samsonova. “She’s played a lot of matches in a short amount of time and it’s not ideal. There’s nothing we could really do, it was just the weather, but I know scheduling wasn’t in her favour.”

The scheduling of the women’s tournament has been criticized by players and fans leaving some players, like Samsonova, at a disadvantage.

The event saw record attendance of 175,003, organizers said. The previous high was 161,497 in 2010.

In the men’s final Sinner beat Alex de Minaur thanks in part to trying something different late in the first set.

He hit a drop shot with just the right amount of backspin and an outstretched de Minaur couldn’t quite get to it.